The present invention concerns an apparatus for measuring bearing capacity.
It is frequently necessary in connection with the structural courses of roads and streets, of various building foundations and also with the filling of excavations, to measure the bearing capacity of such surfaces. The bearing capacity of roads is commonly measured using an apparatus in which a load is applied on the structure to be measured by a load equivalent to the rear wheels of a lorry (Benkelman beam, Lacroix deflection measuring car), in the form of static loading with the aid of a rigid loading plate (the plate loading test) or in the form of dynamic loading on a rigid plate with the aid of a drop weight (drop weight apparatus).
Existing apparatus have significant drawbacks: they are big, expensive and unwieldy in use, and therefore bearing capacity measurements on smaller objects are not feasible. An object of this kind is encountered e.g. on roads and streets in filling work on various excavations, which could by filling one course at a time, with intervening compaction and measurement using a suitable bearing capacity measuring means, be filled right away in one go in a manner precluding subsequent formation of holes or presence of residual eminences.